Swivel electrical connection for deep well drills



Dec. 29, 1953 A-- 2,664,454

SWIVEL ELECTRICAL CONNECTION FOR DEEP WELL DRILLS Original Filed Nov. 18, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I f K R .4 a m m mm E 9 2 w 0/ 2m x E 5% 7 5 Va 7 $4 33? w 4 a qwl l m4 4 3 {/L 5 :n m f n r B 7 .0 20 0 2 W fl j fl m fl W w x a a Z Patented Dec. 29, 1953 SWIVEL ELECTRICAL CONNECTION FOR DEEP WELL DRILLS Armais Arutunofi, Bartlesville, Okla.

Original application Nove No. 60,709. Divided an 17, 1951, Serial No. 226,808

4 Claims.

My invention relates to apparatus for drilling deep wells, and the present application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 60,- 709, filed November 18, 1949, which in turn was a c'ontinuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 711,959, filed November 23, 1946, now Patent No. 2,609,182, dated September 2, 1952.

In general, my invention relates to apparatus for drilling deep oil and gas wells, and it deals more particularly with a drilling unit suspended on a cable, the upper end of the cable bein connected to a suitable derrick or hoist at the surface so that it can be paid out as drilling progresses. The drilling unit comprises a rotary drill and means for rotating the same, all suspended from said cable (the means for rotating the drill comprising an electric motor), and the present invention is an improvement in the means for suspending or mounting the drill and rotating means therefor in such a manner as to avoid twisting of the weight carrying or suspending cable.

In particular, the present invention deals with a unique and dependable swivel connection which is provided between the suspending cable and the drive means for the drill to prevent twisting of the cable should the drive means rotate in the well bore. Since the cable from which the drilling apparatus is suspended is so constructed and arranged that it also includes means for conducting the elecrtical energy from above the surface to the motor suspended on the cable, it is an important feature of the invention to provide efficient means for transmitting the energy through the swivel to the drive motor and to the signalling means which is utilized to obtain at the surface an indication of the relative rotation taking place between the dirve mean and the cable.

It is another important feature of my invention to provide a swivel connection that is provided with electrical contacts that are so mounted that a circuit will be maintained between the conductors in the cable suspending the apparatus and the conductors leading to the motor that drives the rotating parts of the drilling apparatus at all times as'the two parts of the swivel turn relative to each other about their axis, said electrical connections comprising contact rings and spring pressed contact members engaging with said contact rings to maintain the electri-.

cal connections.

Means is provided for insulating the electrical conductors comprising a body of oil surrounding the same and the above referred to contacts and mber 18, 1949, Serial d this application May 2 to maintain a pressure on said body of oil higher than that of the drilling fluid, that contains water, in which the drilling apparatu is submerged.

It has been found, where high voltage current is conducted through conductors that are contained in a body of oil to provide the necessary insulating means for said conductors, that oil under pressure is not sufiicient protection for preventing deterioration of said insulating oil and thus loss of dielectric strength. It has also been found that where there is the possibility of seepage or leakage of either the oil or a liquid containing water through a seal, that if such leakage occurs and water enters the body of oil, the moisture entering from the body of water will readily travel downwardly through the-in-,' termolecular space in the oil, thus contaminating the entire body of oil and lowering the dielecf tric strength thereof, whereas this deteriorating proces does not occur where the point ofcontact of the water with the oil underlies the body of oil so that the travel of the moisture would have to be upwardly through the body of oil. It is one of the purposes of my invention to pro-.

vide sealing means for the chamber containing the body of oil that is of such a character that all of the seals at which the outer body of water and the. inner body of oil might come in contact are so located that the body of Water the body of oil at the seal, and thus any point or contact with the water would underlie the body of oil. a

With the above objects in view as well as others which will appear as the description proceeds,v my invention consists in the novel feature hereinset forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the" appended claims.

. In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of my drilling apparatus, partly broken away, showing the same located in a well bore.

Fig. 2 i an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the upper portion of the means for susv pending the drilling unit from the cable,

Fig. 2a, is a similar View thereof, the lower gripping means being shown in elevation and being partly broken away,

Big. 3 is a section taken on the. line 3 3 or.

Fig. 2 in the direction of the arrows, l Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on the line of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on the ms; of Fig. 2a, and

lies below? of the lower portion 3 Fig. 6 is a similar view, taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2a..

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the reference numeral Iii indicates a well bore in which my drilling unit is located.

The drilling unit comprise an upper section II, a section I2 swiveled thereto, a bailer section detritus collector I3 connected to the lower end of the section I2, and a section I4 which contains the motor I5 for driving the drill I6 through suitable reduction gearing, not shown. In the drawings, the drill is shown as being a coreonii, although any other suitable drill may be utilized.

The upper section I I of the drilling tool is suspended from a weight supporting cable I1. The cable I1 is connected with the section II in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the draw: ings, said section II comprising an open ended tubular portion I8, which is internally screwthreaded at I9 and is engaged at said threaded end, portion by a nut 2%]. The upper end of said tubular member i8 has a tubular guide member 2i mounted centrally thereof, which is connected with the tubular member it by means of ears 2 2. The member 2i is what is commonly referred to as a fishing neck. The cable I? extends through the member 2| and is secured to the bolt 23 by means of cable clamps 24 and 25, by means or which said cable I'i is formed into a loop 26 embracing the bolt 23. The bolt 23 is mounted in a pair of upstanding ears 21 on an inner tubular member 28 provided in the section II, the' tubular member 28 being fixed to the nut by means of a key 29 and a nut 30 screw threadedly enga ing with the end thereof and seated against alshoulder 3I on the nut 28, said tubular member 2-; also having an annular shoulder 32 thereon so that said tubular member 23 i fixed by key 29 in position relative to the tubular member it by iiiahsof the nut 30 clamping the shoulder 32 against the nut 29. I J i A sleeve 33 surrounds the bolt 23 and a sheet metal guard member 35 is mounted between the sleeve 33 and the loop 26 formed in the cable Il The cable H is made in a similar manner to that shown in my above referred to copending application, in that it has an outer Weight sustaining sheath, and mounted within said sheath is an ins'ulated electrical cable 36. The cable 36 is connected wit-nan insulated cable 31 by a suitable splice 38. The electrical cable 3'! extends into the central passage 39 in the tubular member 28 and into the tubular swivel member 40 carried by the tubular member 23. It will be noted that the tubular member I3 is removable from the member 2G and thus from the member 28 so as to provide ready access to the cable clamps and the electrical connections within the same by merely unscrewing the same from the nut like member 20 and sliding the sleeve-like member 2I upward- 1y on the cable I'l. Also it will be noted that when the tubular member I8 is in position as shown in Fig. 2 it is open at the top thereof so that any debris that may be loosened above the location of the drilling apparatus will drop into the container provided by said tubular member I8, and container having a large chamber 4| therein that constitutes a debris or jur'ilr basket.

The tubular member 28 is provided with a cylindrical outer surface that extends from the shoulder 32' to th portion 42 thereof. The sur face 44 is provided with an annular groove 43 and a stop collar or ring 45 is seated in the groove 43. A pair of rings 46 and 4'! are mounted for relative rotation thereto on the cylindrical outer face of the member 28. The rings 46 and 41 are the same in construction, except for the fact that these are reversed. Each of said rings has a plurality of radial slots 48 therein, as shown in Fig. 4, and each has the ends of a pair of bowed out springs 49 fixed thereto (see Figs. 2 and 4). The springs A8 are of such a curvature that these will be flexed iipon engagement with the wall of the bore Ill so as to firmly engage by spring pressure with the wall of the bore to hold th rings 455 and 4'! against rotation in said well bore.

v The springs 29' and the rings 46 and 41 constitute part of a gripping means for holding the upper section I I, which constitutes the upper member of a swivel connection, against rotation in the well here. Said gripping means further comprises a plurality of shoes 50 that may be referred to as torque shoes, in that these shoes engage the wall of the well bore to prevent rotationof the tubular member 28 and thus of the upper section I I of the well drilling device, which might otherwis occur due to the torque developed by the motor I5 in rotating the drill bit I6. The member 28 is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves 5| which haves. pair of side walls 52 and 53, the side walls 53 being inclined much more to the radial than the side walls 52. Each of the grooves further more has a partly cylindrical bottom wall 54, which serves as a socket for receiving the integral hinge pin portion 55 on each of the shoes 50. Each of said shoes 50 also has a pair of longitudi nally elongated openings 56 therein adj acent the hinge pin portions 55 thereof and has a thickened outer end 51, which has races 58 and 59 thereon that meet at a sharp corner 60 so as to provide a gripping surface on each outer end of said shoes adapted to engage the Wall or the bore to prevent rotation of the member 28 in a countermlookwise direction as v ewed in Fig. 4.

The shoes so are move into gripping position upon any slight counter clockwis rotation oithe member 28 relative to the rings 46 and 41 by means of the projecting lugs or fingers 6I provided on each end or each of the shoes 50, which operate in the radial slots 48 in the rings at and 4-1, It win be obvious that if the member 2a is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction relative to the rings is or 131, as viewed in Fi s. 1 and 4, the pivot pin portions 55 Will be swung around relative to the position or the lugs 6| so as to throw the gripping members 50 outwardly into engagement with the wall of the bore.

i As the forces that will be acting on the shoes 50 are very great, the construction of the mounting of the shoes must be quite rugged. For that reason the pivot m'enibers of the shoes are mounted in the grooves inthe thick tubular member 28 and are provided with strong retaining members comprising the arcuate bars 62 that have flat end faces that are Welded face to face to the faces 52 and 53 of the grooves at 53 and 64, respectively, said arcua'te bars 62 assing through the open ings 5G in the members 50. V

The tiibular swivel member Ml is provided withan upper screw-threaded end portion 65 that is threaded into the internally threaded end pertion 66 of the member 28, and a stufling box is provided in the upper end of said swivel mem.

ber it comprising the compressible packing '51 and the gland member 68 that compresses the packing 61 between itself and the annular shoulder 69 providing a reduced neck portion in the swivel member efi within which the cable 31 fits.

The packing 61 is thus compressed around the cable so as to provide a liquid tight joint around the cable within the member 48. The cable 3*! extends to the lower end of the member 40, which has an annular enlargement I thereon, on which the cylindrical extension II is secured.

-An insulating block I2 is mounted in the lower end of the cylindrical member II, being seated in a recess in the end thereof, as shown in Fig. 2a, and the three conductors I3, I4 and I5 that are provided in the cable 31 extend from the lower end of said cable through suitable passages in the insulating block 72 to contacts provided on said insulating block. Said contacts, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, comprise a central substantially circular contact I6 and a pair of fiat ring-like contacts 11 and I8. The contact I6 is mounted on the axis of the cylindrical member 7| and thus,on the axis of the swivel member and the ring contacts I1 and I8 are concentric therewith. The conductor I4 is connected with the central contact I6, the conductor I3 with the ring contact I! and the conductor I5 with the ring contact 18.

' The member I2, which is swiveled on the member II., comprises an outer tubular housing IS, with which an upper head is screw-threadedly connected at one end thereof, and a lower head 81 is screw-threadedly connected at the other end thereof. The head 80 has a bearing portion 82 fitting the outer periphery of the tubular member 40, and said bearing portion is provided with a plurality of grooves 83, in which compressible sealing rings 84 are mounted. The head member 88 has an upwardly extending end portion 85 that is slightly reduced in diameter and is provided with a cylindrical outer surface, while the swivel member 40 has a flanged collar 8B keyed thereto by means of a key 8'! so as-to rotate therewith, said collar having a depending annular flange 88 overlapping the reduced upper end portion 85 of the head 80 of the member I2 and having a groove therein, in which the compressible sealing ring 89 is mounted. The retaining ring 90, mounted in a groove in the swivel member 40 holds the collar 86 from endwise movement and the joint between the collar 86 and the swivel member 40 is sealed by means of the sealing ring 9I. An upper ball thrust bearing 92 is mounted between the members'80 aand 86, a space being provided between F the members 80 and 86 for mounting this thrust bearing.

Mounted within said space is also a contact 93, which is carried by the upper end member 80 provided on the tubular housing I9 and thus rotating with the member I2 and grounded to said member 80 and thus to the metallic parts of the drilling apparatus and the outer sheath of the cable IT. A spring pressed contact 94 is mounted in a recess in the collar 86 and a con ductor 95 extends to said contact through the passage 96 in the collar 86, said conductor 95 being contained within the cable 31 and passing therefrom in the passage 39, as willbe obvious from Fig. 2, a side passage 81 being provided from the passage 39 for the conductor 95 so as to bring the same out of the member 28. It will be seen that as the member 80 rotates relative to the member 86 and thus as the member I2 rotates or swivels on the member II, the

contacts 93 aand 94 will engage once during eachrotation of said parts. This is utilized as an indicating means or signal means to indicate by means of any suitable signal above the ground surface connected with the proper con-.

. the tubular members I9 and I 02.

' rically opposite each other.

ductor within the cable I! and grounded to the outer sheath of said cable I I to indicate as to whether the upper and lower members of the swivel are rotating relative to each other and thus whether the apparatus is functioning properly. In fact the frequency of the signals will indicate the conditions in the well bore as, if any slippage of the gripping means 50 occurs, the relative rotation of the members 80 and 86 will either be retarded or will cease entirely. If in any case the gripping means 50 is not functioning perfectly, then the rotation induced in the upper section II due to the slight frictional resistance in bearing I00 and seals 84 and BI will result in an undesirable twist in the cable I1.

The collar 86 is provided with a longitudinal passage 98 therein, which leads to the space between the lower end of the member 86 and the upper end of the member 80, and a valve 99 is provided thereon through which oil under pressure, which is an electrical insulator, is inserted in the passage 98 and all spaces in communica tion therewith. As the apparatus will be in a body of water in the well bore when the drilling operation is taking place, there will be water surrounding the members 80 and 86 and accordingly there will be water on the lower side of the seal 89 and oil on the upper side of said seal when the apparatus is in operation. However, it has been found that there will be no contamination of the oil and thus of its insulating and lubrimoisture with the oil as would cause the same to deteriorate, will take place.

A ball thrust bearing I00 is mounted between a shoulder on the lower end of the member 80 and a shoulder IOI provided at the enlargement I0 on the swivel member 40. The section I2 further comprises a tubular member I 02, which is screw-threadedly connected with the head 8I, which thus serves as a coupling means between The member 8| has a seat at its upper end for an insulating block I08 and has an inner tubular member I04 secured in an opening I05 in the lower end thereof, which communicates with the chamber I06 within the member BI. The tubular member I02, serves as a piston chamber in which a piston I01 is mounted, which slides on the tubular member I04, serving as a guide for said piston, and within the bore of the tubular member I02. The

piston has a rearward extension I08 having an additional guide opening I09 therein cooperating with the tubular member I02. Sealing rings I I0 and III are provided in suitable grooves in the piston cooperating with the walls of the tubular members I02 and I 04, respectively. A coupling I I 2 is screw-threadedly connected with the tubu lar member I 02 and a compression coil spring I I3 is mounted between the rear wall Ill of the piston I01 and the end wall I I5 of the coupling Il2.

A series of openings I I6 is provided in the tubular member I02.

Spring biased contact members II I, II 8 and II9 are mounted in the insulating block I03,

there being two of the contacts II 8 and two 01 the contacts II9 arranged substantially diamet- Thus there are twocontacts II9 engaging with the contact ring I8 and two contacts II8 engaging with the contact ring 11, and the single contact II'I, which is on the axis of the swivel member 40, engaging with ascents the contact 15..- With this arran ement of con tacts there will be assurance that there will a1- b a connection be ween the condu tors 12.0, I2I and I 2, and the ond tors It, .13 and 75, r sp t vely, hrough said conta ts, he conductor '12. hav ng ran h onductors 123 l ad g to e contacts H8 and the ondu tor 4.2.2 havin branch conduct rs 124 lea ing to the ontacts LL9- The c n uc ors I2 i l and I22 extend :ir m the cable I25, which ex nds throu t passage in the tubular member 104 and leads to the motor 15. The motor is a three phase motor and the elec r al en r y i s supplied :to said m t r from the cable .36 in the supp rtin a e .1 th ugh the ca le '31 and the ope at .ihg con a s o th abl 25 h ving the cond t rs that re connected with said motor.

The c upl ng H2 has a pa sage I26 the ein, which leads to a suitable passage in the threaded end po tion I21 of am mber 528, wh ch is on nected with the coupling I I2 and which is in turn connected with the tion 13.. The pa s e 28 is provided with a stufiing box comprising the packing gland I29 and the layers of compressible packing 530 which provide a liquid tight joint around the cable I in said passage I26.

A chamber is thus provided that is sealed so as to retain a body of liquid therein, which chamber includes the passage within the tubular member I04 and the chamber between the piston I01 and the bottom end wall of the member 8|. In order to provide communication between this chamber and the chamber I06 in the member BI, a liquid passage I3I is provided in said member 8L The liquid chamber I06 communicates with thespace between the tubular members 'II and I9 and also with the space Within the tubular member I! and thus with-the passage in th swivel member til. There b ing no seal between th m r and the tu lar member 18, the space between the tubular swivel member do and the members I9 and 88 up to the sealing rings 83 will also be in communication with the other above referred to spaces. An insulating oil is injected into the spaces under pressure through the valve 33 in the member SI and the air released through the valve I32 in the member 89, The nsulatin il is nd ted y the numeral I34 in Fi 2 nd 12 .A he drilling appara us w ll be a body of iquid c nta n ng Wat r wh n in opera ive p sii n in t e w l bo e the umn of water above the openings i6 will cause the liquid in the well bore under pressure to fill the chamber I35 back oi he pi t n However, the spring H3 will urther urge the piston up ard y a d thus the pres ure n the il i3 Wi l be reater thanthe pre su e f th liquid in he chamber I35 nd, accord g y, a all seals the u ward pres ure ex: rted y the body of oil wi l be greater than the pressure f th liquid c ntai ing water on the outs de o th seals. Thus if there is any leaka e or seepage through the seals, it will be an out.- ward seepage er outward leakage of oil rather than an inward passage of the liquid containing water.

{Ihe member I28 has gripping means provided thereon that are of identical construction to the gripping means that comprise the shoes 50 above described, except that said gripping means are oi'greaterlength, However, the shoes 50' oi said gripping means operate in the same manner as the shoes 59 ab ve described, and are un in a similar mann r on the m mber I28 so as o:

cause the sam to be thrown outwardly-into en casement with the well wall upon any tendency of reverse rotation of the member I28 due to the rotation of the drill Ifi. Instead of providing a pair of openings in the shoes :for the retaining means, three openings .56 are provided in each of said shoes, and it is obvious that any desired number of such openings and retaining bars or bands t2, which are the same in construction .as the members 62 above described, can be provided, dependent upon the length of the gripping means and of the shoes. The shoes are provided with lugs 61' corresponding .to the lugs 6| of the shoes :50, which operate in radial slots in ring members A5 and 41 corresponding to the ring members 46 and '4] previously described. The operation of the lower gripping means comprising the shoes 50 is exactly the same as that of the upper gripping means having the shoes .50;

.It will accordingly be seen that the torque ex:- erted on the apparatus by the rotary drilling operation will thus be resisted first by the shoes .50 to thus reduce rotation of the section I2 to a minimum. Furthermore the tendency of this rotation to be transferred to the section II will be entirely eliminated due to the cooperation of the upper gripping means 50 holding the section I I stationary and the swivel connection be tween the section II and the section I2. Thus any tendency of the cable I! to twist will be entirely avoided by the combination of gripping devices and swivel connection between the same provided in this drilling apparatus.

It will be noted also that the seals that are provided between two moving parts, where the only possibilities of leakage of liquid mightocicur, are so arranged that the outer body of liquid containing water is on the lower side of the seal and the insulating oil comprising the inner body of liquid is on the upper side of the seal. This is true of the seals III], III and8r9.

By the particular mounting of the pivoted shoes 50 and 50' by means of the bar-like mernber 62, a very strong connection is provided between these pivoted shoes and the members on which the ame are mounted. The el ctrical connections and contacts are all in the body of insulating oil and the contacts are so com structed and arranged that there will always be a good contact between the cooperating contact members for any position of the Parts oi the swivel connection relative to each other. In addition to that, means 'is provided by means of the cooperating contacts 93 and 94 to give an instant indication or signal at the surface as to the p r rmance of the ripp n m ans and of the swivel connection.

The tubular member l8 serves as a housing for" the cable clamping means so as to prevent any damage thereto and at the same time provides a basket for catching anything that might other wise drop down to a point where it would inter-- fere with the operation of the gripping shoes or other moving parts of the apparatus' Having thus described my invention, I claim:-

ljA swivel assembly for electrical drilling of deep wells comprising an oil chamber, a pair of insulating discs with sliding contact members said oil chamber, a cable connected to contacts of the upper of said insulating discs, a cable connected to contacts of the lower of said insulat-' ing discs, stuffing box packings around said cable at the upper and lower ends of said oil chamber,"

and an annular piston chamber around the cable in the lower part of said assembly, said piston being provided with a spring to maintain an overpressure or" said oil in said chamber.

2. In a well drilling apparatus, a first member, a second member swiveled on said first member for rotary movement relative thereto, each of said members having complementary wall portions defining an oil chamber between said members, a pair of insulating discs with sliding contacts in said oil chamber, said discs being carried respectively by said first and second members, cables connected to the contacts of discs and extending respectively through openings at the opposite ends of said oil chamber, stuffing box packings around said cables in said openings, a piston chamber in the second member having open communication with said oil chamber, and a spring-loaded piston in said piston chamber acting on the oil in said chambers to maintain same under continual pressure.

3. In a well drilling apparatus, a first member, a second member swivelled on said first member for rotary movement relative thereto, each of said members having complementary wall portions defining a chamber between said members adapted to contain an insulating liquid, a pair of insulating discs with sliding electrical contacts juxtaposed in said chamber, said discs being carried respectively by said first and second members, oppositely extending electrical cables connected respectively to the contacts of said discs, said cables extending through openings at the opposite ends of said chamber, stuifing box packings around said cables in said openings, an annular pressure chamber around said cable in said second member adapted to contain insulating fluid, an annular piston within said pressure chamber, resilient means engaging said piston on one side thereof, said pressure cham her on the other side of said piston having open communication with said first chamber whereby a continual pressure is exerted on the insulating liquid contained therein.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said piston chamber on said one side of said piston is in open communication with the well bore whereby the Well bore pressure is transmitted to the piston.

ARMAIS ARUTUNOFF.

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